If the New York Rangers are to advance beyond the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, they have to hope goaltender Henrik Lundqvist figures out a way to beat the Canadiens.

The man they call the King in New York has been a mere commoner when he faces Montreal. Lundqvist, 35, has been among the NHL’s elite goaltenders for the past dozen years, but the Canadiens have always presented a challenge to him.

Lundqvist has a 14-17-0-3 career record against Montreal with a 2.87 goals-against average and a save percentage of .898. Statistically, this has been his worst season in the NHL with a 31-20-4 record, a 2.74 GAA and a .910 save percentage. The Canadiens are responsible for some of the less-than-stellar numbers. The Canadiens swept the three-game season series against the Rangers, winning 5-4 at the Bell Centre on Jan. 14 and then winning twice at Madison Square Garden — 3-2 in a shootout on Feb. 21 and 4-1 on March 4. Lundqvist was in goal and that’s 12 goals-against in three games.

Lundqvist has been bothered by a hip injury and struggled in the six games he played after coming off the injured-reserve list. He had a 1-3-2 record and allowed 21 goals.

But Lundqvist, who did prevail over the Carey Price-less Canadiens in the 2014 playoffs, sounded upbeat after a 3-1 loss to Ottawa Saturday.

“It’d be a better feeling, obviously, if we’d been winning a lot lately, and that’s not been the case. But as a goalie you have to focus on the things you can control and try to give your team a chance to win games,” Lundqvist told reporters after the game. “I feel pretty good. I’m gonna work as hard as I can the next couple of days and really fine-tune everything and come to Montreal with a good feeling and try to get a good start in the series. I look forward to it.”

Lundqvist may be facing additional pressure because the status of backup Antti Raanta is in doubt. He was scheduled to start in Sunday’s season finale against Pittsburgh, but a puck hit him in the knee in practice Saturday and Magnus Hellberg got the start — and first NHL win. Rangers coach Alain Vigneault described Raanta’s condition as day-to-day and said his team is healthy going into the playoffs.

Montreal Canadiens’ Dwight King (21) looks to set up a shot against New York Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist (30) during the first period of an NHL hockey game, Saturday, March 4, 2017, in New York.Julie Jacobson /
AP

The Rangers finished the season with 102 points — one behind the Canadiens — and claimed the first wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. Their season was marked by inconsistency and they never made a serious run at the Metropolitan Division powers — Washington, Pittsburgh and Columbus.

The Rangers had the fourth-best offence in the NHL (3.09 goals a game) but they didn’t have a dominant scorer. Mats Zuccarello led a balanced attack with 59 points, including 14 goals.

The top goal-scorer was Chris Kreider with 28, while Michael Grabner added 27. Kreider is best known in these parts for the collision that knocked Carey Price out of the 2014 playoffs, but he is an effective power forward who’s not afraid to use his size — he’s 6-foot-3 and 226 pounds — to full advantage in front of the net. At 25, Kreider has emerged as a dependable winger.

Grabner, 29, was one of the key additions in the off-season. The Austrian hit rock bottom last season when he collected nine goals and nine assists for the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Rangers were able to sign him for $1.65 million. Grabner displayed a sense of humour when he went through a scoring drought this season and said that was the reason the Rangers were able to sign him at a discount.

One wild card in the mix is veteran Rick Nash. The 32-year-old’s numbers have dropped off since he scored a career-high 42 goals two years ago. He has 12 goals in 65 career playoff games, but he finished this season with a flourish, scoring five of his 23 goals in the last eight games.

The playoffs will also be a new experience for highly touted rookie Jimmy Vesey, who scored 16 goals this season but struggled in his own end.

The Rangers’ strength is up the middle, where they have a distinct size advantage on Montreal. Mika Zibanejad, who is a familiar face from his days in Ottawa, is 6-foot-2 and 222 pounds, while Kevin Hayes is a 6-foot-5, 227-pounder. Derek Stepan, Oscar Lindberg and Brandon Pirri all top 6-feet.

On defence, the Rangers are led by Ryan McDonagh, who was originally drafted by the Canadiens and then included as a throw-in in the trade that brought Scott Gomez to Montreal. McDonagh, the Rangers’ captain, is a solid two-way defenceman and was the Rangers’ most valuable player this season. He missed three games last week with an undisclosed injury, but he looked healthy Sunday when he scored a goal and added an assist in a 3-2 win over Pittsburgh.

McDonagh is the standout on the blue line, but he has a solid supporting cast with Dan Girardi, Marc Staal, Kevin Klein and rapidly improving rookie Brady Skjei.

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